Bombay Beach

At one time, Bombay Beach was a resort town for the affluent. However since the town lies below sea level on the east shore of the Salton Sea it is prone to flooding. Most of what remains appears to consist of decaying structures.

I didn’t expect to but I was kind of fascinated by driving around the streets. There is supposedly an old RV community that is half-submerged in mud somewhere around here so I might have to make another trip to the Salton Sea to check it out!

Update: After further looking into the information left by a commenter, this structure was actually a bar at one time that had caught on fire. A suggestion though would be to have a little more tact when trying to correct someone on an honest mistake.

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21 thoughts

Dude… that looks like a crazy place to visit. I’ve heard a little bit about the area before, and the history is really interesting. I’ve got to get out there one of these days and check it out for myself!

Thanks Ron. Yeah I drove around the streets two or three times to make sure it would be safe enough to get out of the car for a few minutes. I was surprised at how broken down everything is on the east shore.

I was at Bombay Beach on February 17th 2009 with my wife and son. We flew into LA and were at Joshua Tree State Park and looked down from a high lookout and saw The Salton Sea. I told my wife and son that I had read about the sea in National Geographic, and wanted to go there. We drove into Mecca and asked directions to Bombay Beach. We drove right down the side street to the berm and walked up and down the area and along the water. Very much abandoned and run down, but the neighborhood watch sign and the church gave us some feeling of safety.. We walked around at will for awhile and took some pictures. My son could not believe we flew 3,000 miles to look at a trailer park!!
Very interesting though.

I actually thanked my wife for allowing me to visit Bombay Beach and the Salton Sea. You never know where life will take you. Sounds like you have been to Joshua Tree National Park. There are some beautiful photo opportunities there. We spent hours roaming around the desert, looking at man’s attempt to exist there. We went to the dam that was built for watering the cattle and the old gold mill. we poked around abandoned trucks, a windmill and an old residence. There was snow in the high desert, so we made a snowman (In the desert!) The next day we were in Malibu, then I surfed at Huntington beach the next, Hollywood that night (My wife stood on the red carpet)and on Friday we went to Catalina Island………what a contrast!!! We live in Vermont and flew out to visit my son who lives and works in the LA area.

We couldn’t get to the ranch as you needed to get on a list to do so. On our walk back from the old gold mill, we saw a tumbled down old house that looked like the bricks were made from the desert sand. The old vehicles were scattered around the desert as we walked to and from the mill. All this was great……but Bombay Beach was the highlight of my day. It was just so interesting. Go figure??

Sounds interesting Dave. The gold mill is another place I haven’t been to.

We met a guy last week at the Salton Sea and he recommended a documentary about the Salton Sea called Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea. It is supposed to be about the people who live in the communities around the lake. That video would probably be of interest to you.

I lived in Bombay Beach as a kid. As a kid living there, I guess I am having trouble seeing the beauty as all of you do. For the person who was concerened about it being safe. It is very safe there because we “residents” stay in the house during the day because it’s too hot. Or either all of the older people were hanging out at the Ski Inn or Tradewinds(I think it’s closed now).

Hi my wife and I stumbled across Bombay Beach a few years’ ago whilst we were driving from San Diego to Palm Springs via the inland route. What a surreal place it is !! but we spoke to a couple of locals down by the submerged trailer park -very friendly locals and they told us the lake level rose in the mid-seventies after some storms and hence the devastation !! we are from the UK, but will never forget our visit to Bombay Beach. Dave and Pam Phoenix, United Kingdom.

I just want to say that I have been going to BBB for many years.Have lots of fun.I have photos of the building of the center the womens club and post 801.We had more going on there then most small towns We had a kitchen band that was made up of my Mom and ladies of BBB.We started having trouble when LA moved in low income people with no jobs.There are no jobs in our little town,If you want to known more let me known.I will be in BBB for Xmas with my dad.
Pat